Industry Outlook Analysis

The outbreak of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (n-CoV) that originated in Wuhan, Hubei province, in late 2019 has caused more patients to sicken and the death toll has risen. Meanwhile, more confirmed cases have been found in other Asian countries, including Thailand, and the US. The Chinese authoritie... Read more

Inbound tourism in 2020 faces a daunting prospect, which affects the number of international tourists and their spending. The market lacks new factors while risks remain and have even worsened. For example, the gloomy global economic sentiment could discourage the international travelers’ activities... Read more

During October-December 2019, 76.9 percent of people living in Bangkok have planned to travel, up slightly from the survey in the same period last year; 22.2 percent of the sampled group said the government’s tourism stimulus measures (in October-November 2019) affect their decisions to travel.... Read more

Europe is Thailand’s important foreign tourist market because a large number of European tourists tends to visit Thailand during the final quarter of every year. In addition, they typically take long vocations here and help generate substantial income for travel-related businesses.... Read more

The number of Chinese tourist arrivals to Thailand is recovering gradually, with growth seen for the first time in July through to August 2019 at 1 million visitors. The rebound was attributable to a number of factors, including a visa on arrival (VOA) fee reduction scheme, proactive marketing campa... Read more

On August 20, 2019, aside from the extension of visa-on-arrival fee waiver for Chinese and Indian citizens, which is scheduled to expire at the end of October 2019, to the end of April 2020, the Cabinet also approved a number of measures, aimed at stimulating domestic tourism. These include: 1) A 1,... Read more

The standoff between the authorities and protesters in Hong Kong since June 2019 has escalated to the airport shutdown last weekend from August 9-12, 2019. Flights were cancelled with chaotic effects spreading out across the island. Although the airport reopened on August 13, 2019, uncertainty still... Read more

In 1H19, inbound tourism slowed due to various factors; whereas, the overall number of tourists and slowing growth rate were as expected (party due to high base effect in 2018), in spite of some differences in details in each market. For example, the number of Chinese tourists is lower than expec... Read more

The anticipation toward Songkran this year has been dampened by the air pollution in the northern part of Thailand. At any rate, since the smog in the north had continued for some time, tourists have adapted to the situation and adjusted their travel plans to other areas. Meanwhile, the drought in m... Read more

The intensifying tensions between India and Pakistan over Kashmir two weeks ago has led to the airspace closure in northern Pakistan and parts of India, being the key air route between Europe and Thailand. In the past, conflicts of any magnitude between the two countries were seen to affect only are... Read more

The number of Chinese tourist arrivals to Thailand bounced back quickly toward the end of 2018, thanks to a concerted effort by the private and public agencies in helping shore up confidence of Chinese tourists toward Thailand and an exemption of visa-on-arrival fee for citizens of 20 countries, inc... Read more